Jasmine Visits (and Considers) Chicago

My brain has great difficulty understanding that my niece, Jasmine, is looking at colleges. But more than that… that she’s considering which college to attend, and that Loyola is on the list.

It wasn’t that long ago that Jasmine met my cat, Harmony. And not too long before that, when I met Jasmine for the first time. But time is relative, and what seems like a blink to me is, in actuality, over 18 years.

I’m sure what I’m experiencing pales in comparison to what my sister must be going through.

This week, Jasmine came up to Chicago with Stacey and Jahnu. They visited and toured Loyola, and also got in a bit of the city. Liz and I joined up with them for a late Thursday evening meal, after they had a full day on campus.

We had a few spots we were hoping to take them to, but reservations got too difficult. We ended up going to Cultivate, in Ravenswood.

L to R it’s Jasmine, Jahnu, and Stacey. Liz and I were offering Jasmine some sips of the beers we got, and this is Jasmine tentatively trying one of them out.

After dinner, we drove over to Andersonville and stopped in at a Jeni’s ice cream there. Having recently gone for some Jeni’s ice cream, it was still on our minds.

Ice cream detail.

We actually lucked out, and got some nice seating near the front of the shop. The place was pretty crowded when we arrived, but we were able to hang out here while we had our dessert.

A short visit, but we got to talk a bit about college life and the various experiences we had. And gave our best advice to Jasmine.

I think that with me and Liz “in” Chicago, but not super close by (Hyde Park)… it makes us a good safety net. We’re around if needed, but not so close that we’d be all up in her business.

It’s a big change, and an incredibly huge and exciting and new chapter for Jasmine. Wherever she ends up going.

Related:
Not Quite Dim Sum in Chinatown
Lincoln Park Zoo with the Hutte Family
Jasmine and Jahnu Visit the Field Museum